Frank Schneider escapes French detention, now a fugitive
French authorities have dropped the ball, allowing OneCoin’s Frank Schneider to flee pending extradition to the US. [Continue reading…]
IM Mastery Academy leaders arrested in Luxembourg
Four days after Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier issued a securities fraud warning, IM Mastery Academy held a marketing event in Kirchberg on May 29th.
Police raided the event, which targeted “young students”, after receiving complaints from parents.
The raids led to the arrest of several organizers of the event. IM Mastery Academy’s founder Chris Terry doesn’t appear to have been in attendance. [Continue reading…]
Manifest’s Simply Success collapses, The Latest Wave reboot
On May 16th BehindMLM reported Manifest was committing securities fraud via Simply Success.
Less than 24 hours later Simply Success was abandoned. Now Manifest’s securities fraud is going by The Latest Wave. [Continue reading…]
UK’s FCA bans MLM crypto investment schemes
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has announced
a crackdown on financial advertising amid concerns about “the ease and speed with which people can make high-risk investments”.
Of note is the banning of “refer a friend” commissions, which all MLM crypto schemes offer. [Continue reading…]
38Aladdin Review: Chinese ecommerce ruse Ponzi scheme
38Aladdin represents itself to be a Chinese company operating as a subsidiary of 38Fule.
ALADDIN SHOP operates as a subsidiary of 38 Fule Technology Group, a prominent participant in the health and wellness industry known for its exceptional product quality and innovation.
38Fule is an actual company that sells various health and wellness products.
As tracked by SimilarWeb however, 38Fule’s website traffic is dead. The company’s official FaceBook page was abandoned in November 2018.
As far as I can tell, 38Fule is a dead company.
38Fule was founded by Yuan Xiaofeng, who appears on 38Aladdin’s website:
38Aladdin’s website domain (“38aladdin.shop”), was privately registered on February 9th, 2023.
I can’t say for sure but it appears Xiaofeng’s likeness has been misappropriated. Xiaofeng features in some 38Aladdin marketing videos, but this appears to be old stock footage that predates 38Aladdin.
David Hillhouse is an actual person too. Earlier this year in an interview with Eye Shenzen, Hillhouse revealed he’s a US actor from California who migrated to China in or around 2017.
Aside from acting, Hillhouse runs an electronics company in Shenzhen. He finds the city a livable city for expats.
“Shenzhen is a nice place. There are always good shopping malls, and there’s good quality food every place I’ve been to in Shenzhen,” he said.
Eye Shenzen credited Hillhouse with playing “chief commander in the technology center” in the January 2023 film The Wandering Earth 2.
I tried verifying Hillhouse’s role but it was too minor to show up on IMDB’s full cast list.
Whatever the case, Hillhouse is an actor playing CEO of 38Aladdin. This ties in with the potential misappropriation of Yuan Xiaofeng.
As opposed to Xiaofeng, Hillhouse appears in 38Aladdin marketing videos.
Hillhouse at the very least knows he’s fronting a bogus company.
One last thing to note is, despite 38Aladdin’s representation of being a Chinese company, its official FaceBook page is managed from Singapore.
Chinese scammers typically operate from Hong Kong of Singapore. And this again ties into an actor CEO and misuse of Xiaofeng’s likeness.
As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]
USFIA Receiver seeks approval of ~$5 mill second distribution
The USFIA Receiver is looking to to make a second ~$5 million distribution to victims. [Continue reading…]
Liyeplimal non-regulatory securities fraud lawsuit dismissed
The non-regulatory Liyeplimal securities fraud lawsuit filed in the US is on the verge of being closed.
Following motions of dismissal filed by several defendants, the original complaint was dismissed on May 17th. [Continue reading…]
MetaBlocks Review: Bot-Z reboot Ponzi scheme
MetaBlocks fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
MetaBlocks’ website domain (“metablocks.online”), was privately registered on April 10th, 2023.
It should be noted that MetaBlocks the MLM company has nothing to do with the Metablocks the US marketing agency.
Our final intro note is that MetaBlocks’ website was created on the cheap.
It’s a simple mirroring of the JumpX theme, sold by EnvyTheme for $25.
Something else we find in MetaBlock’s website source-code is references to “Bot-Z”:
Bot-Z is the predecessor to MetaBlocks, running on the same website template.
The linked Bot-Z YouTube channel reveals Bot-Z launched on or around October 2021. SimilarWeb currently tracks negligible traffic to Bot-Z’s website, indicating is has collapsed.
Bot-Z appears to be have been run by Indian scammers. The same scammers are behind MetaBlocks.
As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]
CFG Review: Football “click a button” Ponzi targeting Russia
CFG fails to provide ownership or executive information on its website.
CFG’s website domain (“cfgshare.com”), was privately registered on April 23rd, 2023.
If we click on the “customer service” link on CFG’s website, we are redirected to a Chinese domain.
From this we can confirm whoever is running CFG likely has ties to China. This typically means Singapore, Hong Kong or the Chinese mainland.
Of note is CFG’s use of Russian.
This suggests it is primarily being marketed to Russian speakers.
As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money. [Continue reading…]
iCoinPro Review 2.0: Crypto edu pyramid scheme reboot
A few weeks back I started receiving reports iCoinPro had rebooted.
A visit to iCoinPro’s website reveals an “important prelaunch warning”.
iCoinPro is currently in Pre-Launch. During Pre-Launch there may be some links or pages that are not yet fully functional. Please recognize this before you make a decision to join.
The Micro Profit System, Trade Finder and complete iCoinPro system are ALL fully functional, and ALL commissions in the compensation plan are being paid during Pre-Launch.
Having first reviewed it in 2017, today BehindMLM revisits iCoinPro for an updated review. [Continue reading…]